tips

There is a mirror in my bathroom which has long annoyed the crap out of me. I can’t get it clean. I walk by the bathroom 40 times a day and see the mirror, full of wipe marks. The natural light from the bathroom window hits the mirror just perfect to showcase every single streak from my unsuccessful cleaning attempt. It. Drives. Me. Crazy.

Up until now, I had been using Windex and a paper towel. I had tried vinegar and that was worse. I even tried generic microfiber cloths from Costco that my husband uses to wash his truck. Fail. The natural stuff didn’t work. The chemical stuff didn’t work. What’s a girl to do?

When the kind people from e-cloth contacted me last month offering to send me some cloths to review, I jumped on the offer. You see, e-cloths are various forms of fiber cloths which require ONLY WATER to work. They make specific cloths for all types of cleaning: glass cloths, general purpose cloths, dish cloths, auto cloths, shower cloths, and many more. The even have packs for bathroom, dusting, floors and more. They even come in vibrant colors, which makes me feel like the Carrie Bradshaw of cleaning!

Here are some facts about e-cloth which I found enticing:

YOU DON’T NEED CHEMICALS.

By combining e-cloth’s special fiber technology with water, the cloths break up, lift and hold grease, grime and bacteria. Which things like paper towel and other cloths leave behind.

Each e-cloth has 1.6 million strands per square inch. That is why they are so effective at cleaning and are super absorbent.

Research done has shown that e-cloth removes over 99% of bacteria. With just water. How awesome is that?

The cloths are not expensive. They have free shipping too! I love a good deal. I might just buy them all.

Experiment #1 – Glass & Polishing Cloth

Of the three cloths e-cloth sent me, of course the Glass & Polishing Cloth was the one I was most excited to try. That mirror…

I am really excited to say that this cloth delivers!!

Mirrors. I dampened the cloth and wiped the mirror. The first thing I noticed is that it gripped to the dust on the surface of the mirror, which nothing I have tried in the past has been able to do. Usually the dust just gets wet and smears around, right? Does anyone else’s toilet paper make an insane amount of dust in their bathroom? I feel like I should hold my breath when I’m handling it. Ridiculous amount of dust. My e-cloth picked up the dust no problem. It left some water on the mirror, but when it dried, it was perfectly clean! As in ZERO streaks. Success!

Perfectly clean mirror!

Windows. I also did a test run on my large front window which had fingerprints all over it. Sticky fingerprints, greasy fingerprints, I-don’t-want-to-know-what-that-is fingerprints. With just water, the Glass & Polishing Cloth cleaned the window better than anything else I have tried. No fingerprints or streaks were left behind. I was getting excited by this point.

Experiment #2 – Stainless Steel Cloth

Having spotless stainless steel with a toddler in the house is impossible! Anything at my son’s level is covered in fingerprints. We’ve been using a “green” cleaner to wipe our refrigerator since we bought it a few years ago. There are still smears on the lower half that will not wipe off. I was hopeful this cloth would help.

The Stainless Steel Cloth is double-sided. One side has soft fibers, similar to the General Purpose Cloth below. The other side is striped with a tough fiber. This side is for brushed stainless steel, while the soft side is for polished.

If you get this cloth, make sure you follow the directions. The first time I used the cloth, I just wet it and wiped. My refrigerator looked TERRIBLE. Like, if it wasn’t just water I would have panicked that I ruined it. The instructions clearly state to spray with water, wipe with Stainless Steel cloth and then finish with Glass & Polishing Cloth. The second time around I followed instructions and has much better results.

Shiny, happy tea kettle. Thank you Stainless Steel e-cloth!

I also tried our stainless steel electric tea kettle and the cloth polished it beautifully. I used the tough side to gently buff off anything stuck on it and then used the soft side to polish it. It looked brand new!

Experiment #3 – General Purpose Cloth

The third cloth I tried was the General Purpose Cloth, designed for cleaning stainless steel, enamel, ceramic, glass, chrome, granite, marble, slate, quartz, tile and wood. According to e-cloth, it removes thick dirt, grease, oil, grime. Due to its electrostatic properties, when used dry it is also an effective dusting cloth.

Dusting. I used this cloth to dust while it was dry. I dusted some wood surfaces in our home and it worked well. There were no dust-bunnies left behind, which I usually have. The cloth grabs on to dust, no chemical sprays needed. Win.

Next, I wet it to rinse out the dust. After wringing out all the water I could, I decided to try dusting my ceiling fans. It was awesome! There was no dust or smears left behind, and no dust fell on me. Another win!

Counters. The last thing I tried the cloth for was the kitchen counters, which are usually a mess. I almost didn’t want to dirty my new cloth on them, but I wanted to see what the cloth can do on counter top. We have a dark speckled laminate counter top, so it is hard to see when it is dirty. So I rinsed the cloth clean and got to scrubbing. The cloth did well for normal spots and dust. There was a spot of really stubborn bacon grease which would not come up, but my natural cleaner hasn’t gotten that spot clean either. I needed something more abrasive for that.

I would recommend having a designated cloth for kitchen use because I felt like using my General Purpose Cloth there was going to destroy it a lot faster than just dusting and cleaning elsewhere in the house.

This is a good time to mention:

How long will e-cloths last?

As long as the care instructions are followed, with normal use e-cloths will last for several years and are guaranteed for 300 washes. There may be some loss of color or staining, but this will not affect performance. In order to care for an e-cloth, simply wash in your washing machine without any fabric softener. They make chemical-free cleaning really easy!

GIVEAWAY! e-cloth will send one winner ALL 3 CLOTHS!

*THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

If you share my mirror frustrations, you will definitely want to enter this giveaway. One winner will receive one of each of the cloths I described above: the Glass & Polishing Cloth, the Stainless Steel Cloth and the General Purpose Cloth.

To enter, please do the following:

Visit ecloth.com and sign up for their email list. Leave a comment below telling what cloth you want to try most! You need to leave a comment on this post to enter the giveaway.

Follow e-cloth on any of their social media. Leave an additional comment for each one you follow.

Please enter between 5/25/2015 6:00 am CT to 6/1/2015 6:00 am CT. This giveaway is open to Continental U.S. residents only. Must be 18 years old to enter. Winner will be chosen from the comments below using Random.org.

*I received free e-cloths in order to write this review, however all opinions are my own!

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My poor skin has been through a number the past year while I have been trying various creams and oils in search of a cheap and easy skin care regimen that works. I’ve tried coconut oil which made me break out. I’ve tried Argan oil which did not leave my skin moisturized. I even tried an “organic” brand which ended up not being organic. Read about that here. I ended up returning to an expensive brand which performed well in the past, but I was unhappy about chemicals like dimethicone and other undesirables. Not to mention the costly price!

A few months ago, I decided to search for another organic skin care line on my favorite website, Vitacost.com. I found Acure Organics. Check out the ingredient lists:

Honestly, those ingredient lists along with those prices make me giddy. Looks pretty good, right?

How Acure Organics Performs

I have been using this line for over a month. It is safe to say that I LOVE IT, for many reasons.

I did not break out. That is very important.

My skin did not dry out. It stays soft and moisturized. I have combination dry and oily skin and somehow this product line manages it. When it was still cold out, sometimes I would use the night cream in the day on areas like my forehead where I tend to get wrinkles if my skin is dry. Now that it is warming up, the day cream is just fine.

The eye cream seems to have helped with my fine lines in the crow’s-feet area. I can’t say that they have decreased, but the cream keeps the area moisturized enough to keep the lines from looking prominent.

The price. The ingredients. C’mon, I really don’t think you can beat this. I had to share it with you all!

Ditch the soap – oil cleansing is better!

Another important part of my skin care regimen is that I do not use face wash. For the last six months, I have been oil cleansing. I know it sounds all wrong, but I must say that my skin has never been softer and clearer. (As long as I keep my diet clean, of course.)

Almost every natural living blogger has written about it, so I will save you the details because you probably already know. One natural beauty blog I really enjoy and recommend, Almost Exactly, wrote a great summary about oil cleansing you can read here if you want to know more.

I use a combination of 20% castor oil and 80% extra virgin olive oil. I have heard that olive oil is comedogenic, i.e. clogs pores, but I have not noticed any problems from using it.

I highly recommend you try out the oil cleansing method to maximize benefits from a natural skin care regimen. My skin feels soft, nourished and glows when I can keep my diet straight.

Let me know if you try out Acure Organics! FYI, this is not a sponsored post, I just really liked this find and wanted to share.

Do you currently use the oil cleansing method? What kinds of oils do you use and what has been your experience? Please share in the comments below!

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Washing fruit and veggies is something I haven’t thought out too well. Although I’ve heard time and again to not do this, I use a tiny bit of watered down dish soap to wash produce with tough skins like apples, cucumbers, zucchini, etc. As for things like berries with a soft, absorbent skin, I just rinse in tap water. This bothers me for two reasons. One, I don’t drink my unfiltered Chicago tap water for obvious reasons, so why would I wash my absorbent berries in it. Two, I’ve become aware that parasites are all around us, including at the grocery store. I don’t feel confident that a rinse in tap water will remove all trace of parasites from the fruit.

Recently, I came across a great way to wash berries and other veggies that does not change the taste and makes me feel a lot more secure about getting them clean. It’s as simple as this:

Fill a bowl with about 2 cups of filtered water, the kind you drink.

Add a tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar.

Stir a bit, add your fruit or veggies and stir gently.

Allow to soak a few minutes.

Strain out the water.

Rinse under cold water.

I’ve been doing this a lot lately with strawberries because they are in season here, and delicious. After the soaking stage, I pull the strawberries out by hand to look in the leftover water. Every time I find bugs. All different kinds. I am glad my organic fruit is clean enough to host bugs. I am also glad that my fruit wash is effectively removing bugs I can see.

What about the bugs I can’t see? Good news, vinegar has been shown in studies to reduce bacteria and viruses from strawberries by upwards of 90%. (Source)

I have not tried this wash on produce other than berries, but in my research I have found that people use it for all types of produce. A great idea I came across is to make a large batch and wash all your produce at one time, even if you’re not going to be eating it all at that time.

Regarding pesticides, I have read that vinegar (any type) will remove a portion of surface pesticides. The problem with non-organic produce is that the pesticides are inside the produce as well as on the surface. Rain water soaks the chemicals into the ground where it is soaked up by the roots. It can soak into the plant when it is sprayed as well. I firmly believe the best way to not eat toxic poison is to keep it really, really far away from your home and your food. Buying organic is the only way to not consume toxic pesticides on your food. I did a lot of research on organics which resulted in this post and this post if you are interested.

This is just one of the many reasons why you should keep raw apple cider vinegar in your kitchen at all times. Happy washing!